Here We Are as in Olden Days
by A113 Cowgirl
Summary: Faithful friends, who are dear to us, gather near to us once more. Oneshot on Hiro's first Christmas without Tadashi.


_Secret Santa gift for SammiJammy on tumblr. Hope you enjoy!_

 **Here We Are as in Olden Days**

"Hiro…Hiro, wake up!"

The tufts of black hair peaking out from under the comforter groaned, and further shielded itself.

"Hiro, do you know what day it is?" Tadashi's sing-song voice asked. A beat of silence followed, then a loud gasp and the flinging of pillows and blankets.

"Christmas, Christmas, Christmas!" The 8 year old chanted, bulleting from his bed and towards the stairs. Tadashi laughed aloud and followed the frantic child downstairs.

"Do I hear little elves have finally woken up?" Aunt Cass called from the kitchen, appearing with 3 mugs of traditional Christmas Morning hot coco just as the brothers were crash-landing in front of the tree. Hiro sat in awe for a moment, wide grin on child-like wonder adorning his face. Tadashi looked on, admiring his brother's elation more than the presents under the tree.

"C'mon, little bro. I'll play Santa, you open first." Tadashi said as he placed a sparkling box in small hands. Like a hungry animal, Hiro tore into it with all of the energy built up over the months of waiting for the best day in the kid-year. Aunt cass laughed from her seat, as Tadashi tried to catch as much flying ribbons and paper as he could. Christmas morning, there was truly nothing brighter.

" _Hiro_." Hiro barely heard his name being called, he was too caught up in the joy.

"Hiro, it is time to wake up. It is 9 am on December, 25th. Today is a Holiday, your schedule today consists of seeing friends, having Christmas dinner" Baymax rattled on with his daily morning announcements. Hiro groggily opened tired eyes, realizing the wonderful Christmas he had been experiencing was far from reality. He humored Baymax for a moment, pretending to listen. But before he could hear the end of the speech, he rolled back over and burrowed into his sheets. With pinched eyes, he wished nothing more than to slip back into sleep and to happier times. Back when Santa was still real and when Christmas felt like the most magical day of the year. Back when he still had… a lump formed in his throat. The grieving process was never really over. He would never really finish coping, but things had been getting easier. With Baymax keeping him constant company, and feeling the warmth of friendship with the other four, and especially having challenging classes for the first time in his life and being able to submerge himself in science every day in his courses. Things really were looking up. But Christmas, Christmas was different. There was no Christmas without Tadashi. There was no Christmas without taking turns playing Santa each year, or clinking their hot coco mugs together after every present was opened, or having Tadashi help him figure out how to work his new gadgets. Tadashi was present in every aspect of Christmas. At least, he used to be.

"Hiro, it is time to wake up!" Baymax chanted, and promptly lifted the boy out of bed bridal-style. A surprised Hiro laid in his inflatable arms a moment, before chuckled and making his way to the ground.

"Okay, I'm up, I'm up." He surrendered.

"Today is the morning of December 25th. This is a holiday in your region and culture, consisting of presents and festivities." Baymax informed him with a lifted finger.

"Yeah, thanks, buddy. I'll get right on that." He teased with a grin.

Hiro turned toward the stairs and began down them, wishing once again he could be 8 again and darting down them like his life depended on it, with Tadashi right on his heels. But this time, it was Baymax that was bouncing along behind him, slowly but happily.

"Good morning, little elf! Merry Christmas!" Aunt Cass appeared seemingly out of nowhere once he reached the bottom of the stairs, wrapping him in a tight hug and dropping kisses on the top of his hair. Hiro laughed and wiggled his way out of her loving embrace.

"Merry Christmas, Aunt Cass." Hiro replied warmly.

"Well come on, come on! Let's get to Christmasin'!" She said giddily, and tugged him over to the mountain of presents under the tree. Hiro kneeled on the ground next to the tree, and looked up at it's decorated branches longingly. Something was missing. Christmas was supposed to feel warm. Like the one comforting, warm thing in the midst of a cold winter. But it wasn't warm this year, it felt cold and empty as any other day. And he didn't have to wonder what was missing.

"I will be Santa." An automated voice sounded behind him. Hiro whipped his head around, the familiar phrase both startling and hurting him. Baymax bent down to retrieve a medium sized box, wrapped in bright gold paper and topped with a large red bow. He shuffled over to Hiro and dropped it in his lap.

"For you." If robots could smile, Hiro would have sworn he could hear a smile in Baymax's voice. He grinned back, reading the tag under the bow.

 _To: Hiro_

 _From: Baymax, your personal health companion._

When he looked back up Baymax was shuffling over to present Cass with a gift, too, so Hiro dug in. Not with quite as much enthusiasm as the good ol' days, but with a good amount of excitement. Removing the radiant paper and the cardboard lid of the box, Hiro was confused to find rolled up papers, small ragged journals, and numerous SD cards and external hard drives as the continents. He pulled out one of the hard drives.

 ** _Future Projects_** read it's label. ** _Additional health programs to install_** , read the next.

 ** _Potential Graduate School Products_**

 ** _Blueprints_**

 _ **Prototype Models**_ _._

 ** _Thesis Inventions._**

Dozens upon dozen of files and papers and ideas lay scattered in the box. Hiro lifted a battered old notebook out, and undid the elastic band holding it closed. He opened the cover, and the bottom corner of the first page read _If found, please return to Tadashi Hamada._ Hiro stared at it in awe for what felt like hours, realizing what he was holding. Every idea his brother had intended to create. All of his future projects that would never have come to be. Everything Tadashi had ever written down or theorized on, all of his ideas, now in Hiro's possession. It was obvious that the intention of the gift was for him to continue where his brother had left off, now having the information and data to do so.

"Tadashi is here." a quiet voice recited once again. Hiro's head snapped up to find Baymax standing directly in front of him, looking down at the boy. He didn't know what to say. Aunt Cass was distracted, marveling over her brand new latte maker for the café, leaving the two of them to have a private moment. Still speechless, Hiro rose and forcefully hugged Baymax's large stomach.

"Thank you, thank you buddy." Hiro smiled widely, like a child on Christmas morning. Baymax smiled too, and returned the hug. As wonderful as it felt, having the gang come show up at his door an hour later was just as cheerful. And Hiro couldn't remember the last time he laughed as hard as he did when Fred actually attempted to fit down their chimney, but had to be rescued. And nothing could really top the six of them suiting up in and zipping around the city to commit Christmas acts of kindness together, and coming home late that night for hot drinks and laughter around the fire. Christmas wouldn't ever be the same as it was when Hiro was a kid, he realized that. But this Christmas, it felt pretty warm.


End file.
